Selected Poems from Michelangelo Buonarroti, with Translations from Various Sources
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NRLF SELECTED POEMS FROM MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI o So stood this Angel Four hundred years ago; So grandly still he stands Mid lesser worlds of Art, Colossal and apart, Like Memnon breathing songs across the desert sands. C. P. C RANCH. SELECTED POEMS FROM Michelangelo Buonarroti WLxt\) <£ran*latt<m* FROM VARIOUS SOURCES *'Ei dice cose, voi dite parole" EDITED BY EDNAH D. CHENEY AUTHOR OF "GLEANINGS IN THE FIELDS OF ART" +***< :>. ::' • • •••»•->•»,• BOSTON LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1885, By Ednah D. Cheney. Max TO SETH W. CHENEY, WHO FIRST MADE ME KNOW AND LOVE THE POEMS OF MICHELANGELO AS THE EXPRESSION OF HIS OWN THOUGHT, THIS WORK, THE FRUIT OF THE SEED WHICH HE SOWED, fs focbertntlg IBtfjicatett. E. D. C. 255105 PKEFACE. HAVE long wished to introduce the poems of I Michelangelo to the public, especially to young readers who, possessing a slight knowledge of Italian, would shrink from the difficulties of the text without assistance. For this reason I give the Italian according to the best authority, with an English translation, which will be interesting in itself, and also afford the young student the needed help in catching the thought of the original, which cannot always be obtained by a literal rendering of the text. The first reading is always given, unless otherwise indicated. I have used Guasti's valuable edition as my authority for the Italian. As the difficulty of translation is great, I have not so much attempted to make new versions as to gather from every quarter those which would give the reader the best idea of the original. I have drawn less freely from Mr. Symonds's book than from others, not from any want of appreciation of his valuable work, but because it is still in the market, and I hope my readers will be led to study it themselves. My own translations are given either because no adequate one could be found, or because, being my own, they were dear to me, and represented my thought of the poem more nearly than those even of greater literary merit. I have never altered a word of a translation as published by its author, believing this to be simple justice, but have indicated in the notes those viii PREFACE. passages in which I think he has not given the true meanings, — generally in consequence of having only an imperfect copy of the original. When I first contemplated this work, I thought that the poems differed so greatly in merit that I could easily select a few and leave the rest ; but a closer study has revealed so much meaning in all, that I can assure the Italian scholar he will still find much wealth of thought and beauty in those which I have not here given. My valued friends Mr. John S. Dwight, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Mr. F. B. Sanborn, and Miss Eva Channing have kindly consented to enrich my book with new trans- lations. I feel deeply grateful to them for thus allowing me to entwine their rare flowers in my garland, and I ex- pect the gratitude of my readers for calling forth these precious additions to our English translations. I will say nothing of the difficulty of this task except to quote the words of Wordsworth, whose sonnets have become treasures of English literature. " I mentioned Michelangelo's poetry," says Mr. Words- worth in one of his letters, " to you- some time ago ; it is the most difficult to construe I ever met with, but just what you would expect from such a man, showing abundantly how con- versant his soul was with great things. I can translate, and have translated, two books of Ariosto, at the rate nearly of one hundred lines a day; but so much meaning has been put by Michelangelo into so little room, and that meaning sometimes so excellent in itself, that I found the difficulty of translating him insurmountable. I attempted at least fifteen of the sonnets, but could not anywhere succeed. I have sent you the only one I was able to finish ; it is far from being the best or most char- acteristic, but the others were too much for me." Forest Hill Street, E. D. C. December, IS84. CONTENTS. x "i Introduction __.•. A Epigrams 2 Thirteen Epitaphs for Cecchino Bracci. Translated by E. D. C. 6 JHalmgals. III. 1 Translated by Southey 12 " IV " Harford 14 " '* V. TO VlTTORIA COLONNA* • HaRFORD 16 VI. On the Death of Vittoria Colonna. Translated by Taylor 18 " . " . VII. ... , E. D. C 20 VIII. ........... " M Harford 22 " " XII. , <, . E. C. 24 " " XV. .... , Taylor 26 « XVIII. « Taylor 28 " XXII " E, D. C 30 " XXIII " E, C. 32 XXIV " " Taylor 34 XXV. " " Harford 36 XXXIX " " Harford 38 <* XLIV. « E. C. 40 " " LIII . Harford 42 1 These numbers correspond to those in Guasti's edition. CONTENTS. JfiatrrtgalS (Continued). page LXXVIII Translated by Taylor . 44 LXXIX « u Harford 46 LXXXII " " J. W. H. 48 LXXXIII " " E.D. C. 50 " XCIII " E.C. 52 Sonnets* I. To Dante Translated II. To Dante IV V. To Giovanni da Pistoja. the Sistine Chapel, XII. to vlttoria colonna. XIII. to vlttoria colonna. XIV. To VlTTORIA COLONNA. xv. XVII. xx. XXI. XXIII. XXIV. xxv. XXVIII. XXX. XXXIL XXXVIII. XL. XLIII. CONTENTS. XI JSOtttUtg (Continued). PAGE XLIV Translated by F. B. S. 94 L. " " Symonds . " " LI. Taylor . 98 LIL " Wordsworth 100 " « LIII. E. D. C. 102 " L1V. " Harford . 104 " " LV. Symonds . 106 " " LVI. Symonds . 108 " * LIX. Harford . 110 " LX. u Wordsworth 112 LXII. On the Death of Yittoria Colonna. Translated by E. C. 114 " LXV. To Giorgio Vasari. Hazlitt . 116 " LXVII. Harford . 118 " LXX. Harford . 120 " LXXII. E. D. C. 122 LXXIII. " Wordsworth 124 " LXXV. J. S. D. , 126 " LXXVII. Harford . , 128 LXXXI. u Wordsworth 130 (Imperfect.) LXXXIX. lt Wordsworth 132 (Imperfect.) Canzonet III. (Verse 1.) Translated by Harford .... 134 Stanza II. To his Lady. (Verse 1.) Translated by E. C. 136 Triplets on the Death of his Father. Translated by E.D.C. 138 Notes 1*9 Appendix 159 INTRODUCTION. Michelangelo Buonarroti. Born March 6, 1474 ; died February 18, 1564. TO the triple crown of Sculptor, Painter, and Architect, to which Michelangelo's claim is undisputed, must be added that of Poet, which has been accorded to him by the finest critics of his own time and of ours yet to many ; readers of scholarship and taste his poems are still almost unknown. This neglect is partly due to the intrinsic difficulty in the poems themselves, which usually treat of lofty themes in condensed language, and partly to the fact that not until twenty-one years ago, were his works properly edited and published in Italy. \ These poems]" contain such wealth of thought and feeling, touching upon the deepest questions of philosophy and the tender- est experiences of the human heart, that he who once tastes of their sweetness will never cease to thirst for this fountain of refreshment and strength. The epitaphs on * Cecchino Bracci Fiorentino, for instance, may, on the first reading, seem quaint and formal, reiterating trite thoughts of death and immortality ; but a fuller acquaintance with them recognizes the expression of every form and though^ of grief, and they lie in the memory as a treasure-house of sympathetic utterance which matches the changing phases of one's own experience. 1 xiv INTRODUCTION. " Condivi, Michelangelo's personal friend, says : He de- voted himself to poetry rather for his own delight than because he made a profession of it, always depreciating himself and accusing his ignorance." His poems were scribbled upon the backs of old letters, drawings, or other chance papers ; sometimes copied and /sent to his friends, but as often left unfinished and un- known. , Yet the corrections and various readings of many of the sonnets show that he did give them much thought, and was careful in his choice of words and form. Although jvrged by his friends, he never consented to make any collection of his poems during his lifetime ; yet in such esteem were they held that Varchi delivered a full commentary on the sonnet beginning "Non ha l'ottimo artista alcun concetto," before the Florentine Academy; analyzing it line by line, and bestowing upon it unbounded praise. |But even more precious is the brief eulogium of Berni, "Others say words, but he speaks things,'^ — which must have pleased him far more than the lavish adulation of the sycophant Aretino, who "wished to place every word of Michelangelo in an urn of emerald." /Nor was popular recognition wholly wanting. Three, at least, of his madrigals were set to music by distinguished compos- ers, and were favorites with the people, who had only lately found good melody married to anything but the hymns of the Church. But through all the sixteenth century only a few of his sonnets and madrigals were to be found. These were in a collection of verses in the Life of Michelangelo by Vasari, and in Varchi' s lectures. Mario Giudicci gave two fine lectures upon the first edition of his works. During the latter part of the eighteenth century the French taste then prevalent led the hearts of Italians INTRODUCTION. xv somewhat away from Dante and Michelangelo, and the poems of the latter did not escape abarp criticism. - Four years after Michelangelo's de$th, a son was born to his favorite nephew, Lionardo, and named for his great ancestor. Although this child became a well-known writer, the world honors him most for his devotion to the memory of the great artist. He built a noble gallery, which he adorned with collections of his uncle's works, and pictures of the scenes of his life.